ByDanJohnson.com

Flying magazine has often done great reporting as in their earlier articles about FAA’s oversight of the LSA sector. Graphic prepared by Flying magazine

photo by Jan Fridrich

It is true that a pilot of one type aircraft may not know much about nor (therefore) care much about another type aircraft. Ultralight pilots and turbine pilots may not seem to have much in common. Sailplane pilots and crop dusters, likewise. Powered parachute enthusiasts seem on the opposite side of the spectrum from airline pilots. Yet, regardless of our interests — or even the country in which we live — pilots as a whole are more alike than different in one critical way: we all love flying and we treasure the freedom and beauty flying can provide. So, why do some aviation groups disparage other groups? Why do fixed wing and rotary wing or powered and unpowered pilots sometimes engage in heated arguments? The reasons are many and as varied as humans are different. Fine … we have to accept that we are different. Yet should editors and aviation leaders act more professionally? I think so.

Recent aviation editorials have questioned the value and viability of Light-Sport Aircraft. Other than to create controversy to boost readership or viewership, I can’t think of a good reason why one editor blasts a group … at least without good cause. Is the LSA industry in “critical condition?” Can it be true that industry consensus standards “didn’t work?” Based on what information, I have to ask? I’d like to reply to those naysayers going negative on Light-Sport. I’d specifically like to briefly focus on the safety, utility, and the future of Light-Sport. If you wish to see our response in video form, click here.

SAFETY — Why do we certify aircraft? Why do companies institute quality control? Why do we have detailed documentation of manufacturing processes? All these efforts attempt to bring safety to airplane operations. Are LSA perfectly safe as a result? No. Yet FAA officials repeatedly refer to LSA safety with this word: “Acceptable.” Safety can always be better but to say industry consensus standard “didn’t work” is a wrongheaded value judgement, I believe. Indeed, FAA is sufficiently impressed that ASTM committee F44 formed recently to do for Type Certified aircraft what the F37 committee achieved for Light-Sport. Evidently FAA does not agree that industry consensus standards “didn’t work.”

UTILITY — We will soon post a video about LSA being used in one of the harshest of aviation environments: flight training. We interviewed several producers who cited multiple examples of LSA with 1,500, 3,000, even 4,000 hours and more, all acquired in flight instruction. Some had 10,000 or many more landings yet they’re holding up well (with good maintenance, of course). They also stated that economically, both from operation cost and purchase considerations, LSA make money for flight school operators. In other tough duty, several LSA have successfully circumnavigated the Earth. Obviously, LSA are reasonably durable and can be used to fly long distances.

THE FUTURE — The first LSA came on market less than eight years ago, so it seems a bit soon to say the LSA market “will never be strong.” Did the new segment solve all of aviation’s growth problems? No. Will it, in time? Perhaps not, though maybe. Was that ever a realistic assumption, given that aviation has been working to solve the growth problem for decades? Meanwhile, the incredible diversity of Light-Sport are offering current pilots a broad variety of choices and have indeed brought new people to aviation. So, rather than going negative about any one class of aircraft, I urge aviation leaders to be the professionals they are and to jointly among all aviation sectors seek solutions for aviation outreach. Throwing darts at one another isn’t what’s needed. Aviators with an audience can — and should — do better, in my humble opinion!

In the interest of fairness and balance, I invite you to read the original Flying article and make your own judgement about the editor’s thoughts. Meanwhile, thanks for considering our view.

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The new SLSA SeaRey flies over Bimini island in the Bahamas. The water is indeed that clear!

A CTLS on floats drops in to visit the SeaRey, several miles south of Bimini.

The SeaMax explores the atolls off Bimini island.

Tom Gutmann Jr. and his partner father have sold more than 100 CTLS from their dealership in Tulsa, OK.

The SeaMax looks over the landing situation on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas. The newly certified SeaRey SLSA has already beached.

An early view of the Super Petrel bipe amphib that recently entered the country.

Another view of the highly refined (it’s been around for 20 years overseas) Super Petrel, which will come to market, says Brian Boucher, for perhaps as little as $125,000 introductory price. Yours truly hamming it up in the catbird seat.

Flight Design CTLSi dealer Brian Boucher (L) and Dan Johnson check out Brian’s other venture, the Brazilian-bred, biplane amphibian Super Petrel that’s currently being readied for SLSA certification.

The CTLSi seen from its home/hangar at Spruce Creek.

The 4-person-partnership CTLSi about to lift off from Spruce Creek.

Sam Aircraft Sam LS

Back from a busy, weather-challenging (for photography) trip to the Bahamas, I stopped by to visit Dan Johnson and his soul mate Randee at their Spruce Creek air park digs near Daytona Beach, Florida. If you haven’t had the pleasure, visit Spruce Creek sometime to see how cool an air park can be. Hundreds and hundreds of homes, condos, hangars and “planeports,” even on-site business and a restaurant make this a wonderful aviation destination. It’s my fourth visit over the years and always a pleasure … as it is to visit with Dan and Randee.

This time I got to meet Dan’s partner-in-aviation Brian Boucher, a long time, big-jet professional pilot and one of four owners of the new Flight Design CTLSi I flew for Plane & Pilot magazine up in CT at Tom Peghiny’s US HQ just before it left for Spruce Creek. The opportunity came up for Dan to join the partnership and the numbers made sense, so now the Johnsons are part owners of that lovely fuel-injected CTLSi. (* Brian is the north Florida dealer for Flight Design and due to his business relationship, a partnership share in the airplane became available. The chance was too good to pass up … access to a brand-new, superbly-equipped LSA; a chance to learn about the partnership concept as I had no prior experience; needing to pay only one quarter of all bills; and better utilizing an airplane, as a sole owner rarely exercises the airplane enough. —DJ).

He and Randee flew it over to the Bahamas and joined the LSA flyout organized by Bahama LSA Ambassador and Breezer dealer Mike Zidziunas and Aviators Hot Line’s Jacob Peed. Look for my story on the four-day event soon in P&P mag.

Meanwhile, here’s a few pix to whet your appetite for the Bahamas, and the new biplane Super Petrel LS, a long-time Brazilian biplane amphib currently in the process of going for SLSA certification through the ASTM process.

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Patty Wagstaff, certainly the preeminent woman pilot in the world, spun her spell over a full hangar at the Heartland EAA Chapter 1240 “Dinner with Patty Wagstaff”. As knockout lovely as ever, she’s as hot an aerobat as ever too. Her tales of growing up in Alaska, learning to fly, and not letting anything get in the way of her determination to become a top airshow pilot held the audience in thrall. More on her comments to come, she’s quite a charming and down-to-earth speaker.

Old pal Randy Schlitter and my secret crush, his adorable gal Friday Michelle Miller celebrate the 30th year of Rans Aircraft. Randy has turned out thousands of quality, fun flying aircraft in those years and shows no signs of letting up.

Adam Yang, new partner and CEO of Progressive Aerodyne, showed off the company’s newly certified SeaRey amphibian SLSA. He’ll be flying it over to the Bahamas as part of the LSA flyout at the end of the show on Sunday. We’ll be getting together for some flying and photography for an upcoming article I’m doing on water flying in the islands…stay tuned.

Dealers had steady if light attendance all day long.

Rick Matthews, left and Len Assante, President and VP Communications respectively of Aviation Access gave a detailed briefing on their shared ownership program that draws from other fractional programs including NetJets but blends in a social experience not unlike the European Club concept which is highly popular over the pond. I’m doing a column on this because it hits right in the wheelhouse of one of my pet themes: we need to get real about the high costs of flying even LSA and realize we need to form community to keep aviation alive. The core of the Aviation Access Project is to bring 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16 share ownership that includes management, hangaring, insurance, maintenance, engine replacement and more to partner/owners as part of an LLC corporation structure. Maximum hours per year vary according to the size of the share, from 35 to 150 hours per year. Share purchases run from $11,600 to $42,300 and monthly maintenance fees range from $110 to $310. And that’s all inclusive. Much more about this new program in my column soon, but it’s a compelling and appealing concept (and not just for LSA either) that might blend that just could be the missing link in getting people back into an ownership role with aircraft.

At the Pipistrel booth, Greg Lawrence, a hearing-challenged flight instructor who has worked hard for a long time to bring flight instruction to deaf students, took me through a demonstration of his belief that the same tenets of Taoist Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art practiced for both defense training and health benefits, can be applied to flight instruction. “There are so many parallels between Tai Chi and learning to fly. I’ve developed lesson plans to teach the deaf student pilot without oral communication in the cockpit. Tai Chi is taught the same way, by demonstration, then repetition by the student , then correcting errors.” There’s a lot more to this than I’ve got room for here but it’s an intriguing thought and I’ll bring you more on it soon … it’s worth thinking about and not only for deaf students.

More airplanes made it through the winter weather blanketing much of the midwest and east.

Pipistrel’s much-awaited Alpha Trainer arrived at 8 last night thanks to its much-fatigued pilot Don Sharp who soldiered on through the crud all the way from Indiana.

Highlights? Too many to list, but in the wee hours meself we’ll go the photo/caption route.

Personal fave: Patty Wagstaff’s always-amazing airshow…in the near-dark twilight, followed by the largest demonstration team in aviation, Team AeroDynamix. The 12-aircraft team is made up exclusively of Van’s RV aircraft, including RV-4s and RV-6s, two of the most popular kit planes ever. The complex and highly entertaining show lit up the darkening, overcast skies with great moves and lots of bright lights.

Attendance seemed light today, disappointing especially with all the effort Jana Filip and crew have put in this last year to promote the show and bring in acts like Patty and the RV team. It was chilly, for Florida (below 60 in the morning), and windy all day, but beautiful. Many dealers made demo flights (great way to show how your plane handles crosswinds, right guys?) and those that came were treated to LSA’s top show.

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Beautiful skies and 80 degrees greeted the sparse attendance for the first day of the four-day Sebring Sport Aviation Expo. Bigger crowds expected tomorrow and Saturday, along with strong winds and sunny skies.The Breezer flight team: left to right, Randy Wildman, Angel Castellanos, Mike Zidziunas and Philip Herrington. Castellanos and Herrington are pilots who earned their ratings under Mike Z's tutelage at his Breezer Aircraft USA flight school, now located at Lakeland Linder Airport, home of the Sun 'n Fun airshow every spring. The team will also kick off twi-night flying the next two nights, featuring airshow aerobatic legend Patty Wagstaff and other top acts.

The new Golden Avia F-30, still in the process of ASTM certification, made its Sebring debut.

The jam-packed analog-centric panel of the Golden Avia F-30.

Mike Z leads the formation flight of Breezer LSA to officially open the Expo.

Dan Johnson, right, introduces former FAA head Randy Babbitt, who impressed the crowd with a speech highly appreciative of the LSA industry and its progress so far. "I'm fascinated by the technology and enthusiasm of your industry. You deserve more credit than you get for your inspiration to General Aviation and I don't say that lightly. You've also shown your willingness to take risks in marketing and have demonstrated the importance of self-governance and safety since day one. FAA (during his term) was enthusiastic about the great safety record of LSA. " He urged the members to continue their efforts to consider the NBAA model of training independent auditors for monitoring compliance to ASTM standards and adopting SMS , Safety Management System oversight to minimize the chance of human error, even as technology improves the safety of the aircraft themselves. A rousing talk and kudos to Dan Johnson for bringing his welcome and supportive perspective to the Expo.

The Breezer flight team: left to right, Randy Wildman, Angel Castellanos, Mike Zidziunas and Philip Herrington. Castellanos and Herrington are pilots who earned their ratings under Mike Z's tutelage at his Breezer Aircraft USA flight school, now located at Lakeland Linder Airport, home of the Sun 'n Fun airshow every spring. The team will also kick off twi-night flying the next two nights, featuring airshow aerobatic legend Patty Wagstaff and other top acts.

LAMA's Prez Dan Johnson had several bits of news before introducing former FAA chief Randy Babbitt. Highlights: "In the beginning of LSA, not losing your medical was considered the best reason for buying an LSA. Now we're got 20 of them." He'll present those arguments in prominent slide show displays throughout Oshkosh. Some changes to his LSA Mall exhibits at Sun 'n Fun and Oshkosh Airventure this year include moving the mall to Paradise City at Sun 'n Fun 2013, where show visitors will be able to talk to dealers and also get demo flights all in the same place, at the 1400', much improved sport flying airstrip on the southeast end of the field. This a welcome improvement and something Dan has tirelessly worked to bring about. The Mall, less well supported at Oshkosh, "didn't work out" says Dan, will be modified to include presences within the main exhibitor buildings.

Jan Fridrich, head of LAMA Europe, laid some good statistics on us during the annual LAMA Exhibitors dinner at the airfield tonight. Highlights: Since the LSA rules became effective in April 2005, 2471 SLSA have been registered with FAA. The numbers for 2012 were 258 – down 8% from last year. Yet LSA remains one of the strongest sectors in all of General Aviation and has weathered the recession reasonably well.

Sebring is off and running! The day in pix and captions…

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Welcome to Freeport, Grand Bahama!

I don’t know what it’s called, but this cool custom rig was seen towing around a $100,000 LSA trike in handy fashion.,Welcome to Freeport, Grand Bahama!

Mort Crim, Mike Z and Jacob Peed about to mount up for the flight to the Bahamas.

Congratulations, Robert Hamilton (lt.) for being named President of Dynon Avionics. Kirk Kleinholz, Dynon Sales Manager, is at right.

Goodbye Sebring, thanks for another great show!

Yours truly (lt.) and Leonard Stuart of Bahamas Aviation en route to the beautiful Bahamas.

Mort Crim, former top journalist for the ABC News network, flew over in his Paradise P1 and is filming a video production on the event.

All down, safe and sound, at Freeport, Grand Bahama’s 11,500′ airport.

Our group and the friendly welcoming committee and staff at Freeport, Grand Bahama airport.

Sebring’s final day ended at 2 p.m. with lighter attendance typical of a Sunday and gathering clouds. I spoke with a couple of the principals of the Expo staff that did such a superb job making this no doubt the smoothest running, most feature-packed event that I’ve certainly been too. Kudos to all: it was a beautifully run event, from the many friendly, helpful volunteers to the new food vendors who upped the available comestible quotient (say that three times fast) with tasty food and good selection (Cheese Louise sandwich anyone? I had four! Buzzard Balls were also popular – it was a beef meatball kind of thing if you must know.)

The official end of show release claimed record attendance for the show so I won’t argue, though it did seem lighter than last year but it’s easy to underestimate. More importantly, many vendors were actually pleased with their results with sales or solid leads from the LSA-focused crowd.

Weather could have been better throughout, but there were many demo flights the last day, where wind and rain had challenged exhibitors to properly and thoroughly show off their aircraft.

The get away to the Bahamas got away, under some duress from weather and last minute briefing missings, along with a few cancellations. The group, including a Baron that my wife and I flew over in (alas, an LSA for me and she was not to be in the cards), punched off starting at 2 p.m. for the 154 nm flight to Freeport, Grand Bahama, where we were greeted by warm, friendly faces and whisked away after a rum punch and sandwich reception at the airport, led by Leo Douglass II of the Grand Bahama Airport Company and Donna Mackey of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation.

Much more on this wonderful trip later, as we’re flying to Bimini in a gaggle in a couple hours and there’s still a refreshing morning swim to be had at the Grand Lucayan hotel’s amazing serpentine pool – 600 ft long but seems even longer! – and a buffet breakfast, included in the special discounted-for-pilots rate at the hotel with the best cup of coffee, easily, I’ve had in years.

Just a teaser first: The four-day LSA trip organized by Mike Zidziunas of Breezer Aircraft (Mike Z is the most excellent LSA Ambassador to the islands, mon) and Jacob Peed of Aviator’s Hotline (Grand Bahama and Bimini) at 2 pm proved to be a real challenge to launch for various reasons having nothing to do with the planning and everything to do with mild anxiety over gathering clouds to seaward and some folks who missed the essential pilot’s briefing.

Not to be deterred, and armed with a most excellent weather prognosis from Chris Parker, a friend of Mike Z.’s, we arrived over Freeport with sunny skies and breathtaking views of light-aqua-banded waters and an 11,500 foot runway – long enough for the most errant of LSA pilots.

And now for the rest of the Sebring story, in pictures, with manifest thanks to Jana Filip and her hard working crew. This is probably going to be a two-part finale as I’m running out of time before we fly.

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Her name is Stephany Glassing, she is a licensed Sport Pilot thanks to an Able Flight flight training scholarship, and, oh yes, she lost the use of her legs in a car accident more than 20 years ago at the tender age of 19. Even then she had set a world record for water ski jumping, helped by her coach Mark Mosley seen with her in front of the Sky Arrow S-LSA she trained in. Her story of persistence and incredible determination in the face of a series of major health challenges long after her accident is a stirring one that you won't want to miss. I'll bring it to you in a column soon.

The much-refined production Maverick is a true flying car. A licensed public road vehicle (as a kit car) in most states, this little puppy has a lot going for it, including 0-60 in 3.9 sec., a 190 hp, fuel injected Subaru engine, FAA certificated as an ELSA (kit built) or Experimental Amateur Built flying car – yes, flying car – and a dual drive setup: prop for flying, transaxle for road work. It's a real dune buggy too, carries a useful load up to 450 lbs., drives at a top speed of 100 mph, flies under its parasail canopy (the mast keeps it off the ground for easy launches) at 40 mph, and it flies like a car: turn the wheel left to go left, chop the throttle to land and that's about it. $93,000. And you can buy one now.

And now for something completely different…The Maverick. Read all about it at www.mavericklsa.com

"Hey Mav, I feel the need…for speed…"

The big Saturday came and went, bookended by winds, overcast and raindrops of the intermittent kind. No doubt many potential showgoers were deterred by the non-Florida-like weather.

LSA demo flights were conducted apace, although none of the three days of the show have shown the kind of flight activity of previous years because the weather just hasn’t been cooperative.

All in all, a difficult show to accept: so much great preparation from Jana Filip and crew, many LSA exhibitors battling through winter weather across the country just to arrive late, Patty Wagstaff doing two blockbuster performances, ditto Team AeroDynamix, which drew out a good crowd at dusk despite challenging weather that wasn’t horrible, just uncooperative, and sometimes you want to ask yourself if somebody up there likes to laugh when people plan an aviation meet.

In the hang gliding days, we called it “meet weather”. Call a competition, expect rain.

Final day tomorrow typically draws a smaller attendance at least on a Sunday morning, and a bunch of us are launching at show’s end for 4 days in the Bahamas as part of Mike Z’s annual island fly-out. Skies are clear as of 11:30 tonight: fingers crossed as we tuck in to bed, hoping to make up in one morning what we haven’t been able to do for most of the show: photograph and shoot airplanes for pilot reports. More on that later.

Two in the can so far: Tecnam P92-TD (Tail Dragger), a solid, comfortable flyer, and the Pipistrel Sinus motorglider, which I put 5 hours in with Florida dealer Rand Vollmer before the show and even soared in light conditions for half an hour with engine off.

Up tomorrow morning: the RV-12 SLSA which I’ve been itching to fly for some time. Then off to Freeport, Grand Bahama and some hijinks with amphibs and float planes, including the CTLS on amphib floats, which I’ve flown before and will do a full report on.

Meanwhile some quick snaps with stories to follow tomorrow night from, we hope, Freeport.

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Tired as she was after doing her crackerjack performance, Patty Wagstaff graciously let me take a quick iPhone snap of her and Pipistrel Florida dealer Rand Vollmer. Apologies to Patty, it doesn’t do her beauty justice, but her warmth and good nature shine through for sure. A couple excerpts from her comments to the dinner guests last night. Her first flight was in a Cessna 206 in Alaska. It was fully loaded, the turf runway at an Inuit village she was helping aid was soggy, yet the pilot chose to launch without using the full runway. The airplane failed to achieve flight before achieving the end of the runway. “I’d been around airplanes with my father, so I knew not using the whole runway was a bad idea. We were suddenly upside down, fuel dripping, my knees were shaking. I decided right there I was going to learn to fly. I thought, ‘I can do better than this guy any day!'” Although there was no CFI in her town in Alaska, she talked a pilot into teaching her, after he tasked her with finding a plane. She went all over the airport, found a Cherokee 140 owner willing to loan her the plane, and she was off towards a brilliant career. Now, reflecting back on her amazing 32 years of aviation accomplishments, she says her instructor liked to say “She bugged the hell out of me!” And she adds, “It all seems to have gone so fast. I’m glad I learned to be persistent at an early time in my life.” About flight training, she advises: “Find a CFI you like with a personality that works with yours. It’s like a date: you want to get along with each other.”

Team Aerodynamix put on a great show with spectacular lighting (that made them appear jet powered) and their formations were grouped so the fleet appeared to be aircraft like a jetliner or a Rutan Long EZ. Brilliant … literally!

Just after I posted in the wee hours last night I got this late email from Greg Lawrence about his work with deaf flight students. Greg added a link to more information, check it out, it’s very interesting.

“Nobody can hear very well in a small aircraft,” writes Greg, “and fewer than ‘nobody’ can process language and learn well while sweating and worrying that they are going to screw up and maybe die. That is why I developed lesson plans for teaching Deaf to fly that require no oral communication in the cockpit. Tai Chi is also taught and learned with minimal talking. There are many similarities in teaching Tai Chi and flying. Tai Chi has been taught a couple thousand years longer than flying. Stop by the Pipistrel display and I will demonstrate. I am an Advanced Ground Instructor and we will be standing on the ground so we will be legal. But, you already know how to fly, so I will teach you the first three moves of the taichiquan. A piece on Tai Chi will attract a lot of attention in China.”

Could Tai Chi Flight Schools in the Orient be the next boom overseas?

You can contact Greg on Twitter, his handle is @deafhawk

Also wanted to share a few shots of the Team Aerodynamix show.

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Flight Design CTLS on floats.

Birds-eye view of a Breezer II over the Bahamas!

This year’s LSA bash in Sebring which starts next Thursday, 17 January and runs through the weekend looks to be far and away the best ever. Jana Filip and crew have been working hard all year to make this a top professional event.

Lots of new things in addition to the usual comfy, cozy gathering that’s LSA-only include a twilight airshow (can you spell Patty Wagstaff?), Seaplane Pilot’s Association Seaplane Base at Lake Jackson, Model Airplane Contest, a fully restored American Airlines DC-3 on display, and…oh yeah…tons of top LSA demos for you to get up close and personal with. Here’s some hot points:

• 80+ inside exhibitors; • 80+ outside exhibitors • 20,000+ attendance expected • keynote speeches by Randy Babbitt (former FAA head) and Patty Wagstaff • lots of new product rollouts including at least a couple LSA I’ve heard about through the grapevine. • …and the 3rd annual Bahamas flyout for four days of island fun, mon.

Some thoughts: I’ll be flying over to the Bahamas too this year, at last after hoping to for five years now, in a rented Breezer belonging to Randy Wildman, after a 5-hour transition checkout. The German-made Breezer II, one of the first LSA I flew at the beginning of my Light Sport days with the magazine, is a lovely, solid, GA-style low winger that Mike Zidziunas, who got the whole LSA Bahama flight thing going in the first place, teaches in and sells out of his new Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (KLAL) in Florida. That’s the site of course for Spring’s annual Sun ‘n Fun airshow.

More to come as I prep for the show, including planned demo flights on the RV-12, Pipistrel motorglider, Flight Design CTLS on floats, and a few other goodies I’m still lining up.

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The PC-Aero Elektra One production electric-powered aircraft. Next up: a two-seat version, then a four-seater.

ElectraFlyer ULS, a purpose-builtl, electric-powered ultralight

The gorgeous Lange Antares 20E electric sailplane. Most all electric designs to date optimize aerodynamics to minimize the electric power required for flight. Battery storage for conventional-style aircraft just doesn't have the muscle yet.

With all the bright minds drilling down for electric flight gold worldwide these days, including extensive research into battery storage technology and electric motor development, you’d think it’s only a matter of time before a major aircraft company comes out with an off-the-shelf aircraft to officially “launch” electric flight for the masses.

Yuneec, a Chinese company, did just that a few years back with its graceful E430. Several other companies debuted exciting electric prototypes yet since then, little has manifested under the pilot’s Christmas tree beyond a $200,000-plus electric-sustained sailplane (the elegant Lange Aviation Antares 20E), a composite motorgliderish single-seater that goes for around $140,000 (PC Aero Elektra One) and a two-seat, side-by-side electric powered sailplane (Pipistrel Taurus Electro G2, also available gas powered.)

Of course, we can’t overlook pioneer Randall Fishman‘s efforts. He’s the retired jeweler who wasn’t content to wait for the wheels of technological change to grind their way to his hangar door. He debuted his own concoction, the ElectraFlyer Trike, in 2007 at Oshkosh. Everybody got very excited. He’s sold quite a few of the hour-flight-per-charge units and just debuted an all-composite ultralight, the ElectraFlyer ULS motorglider that I did a recent column on in Plane & Pilot magazine. It’s in production for $60,000.

Current and imminent electric aircraft are of necessity optimized for maximum aerodynamic efficiency, due to the energy density discrepancy between gasoline and state of the art production battery systems such as LiPo (Lithium Polymer) and other formulations which deliver just 12% of the energy of gasoline, when compared pound for pound to gas. That’s what is meant by “energy density” – the amount per pound of energy any storage system can carry.

Current research indicates battery technology could well double, and double again, over the next five years. Meanwhile, electric power is the bottleneck to rapid progress in this field.

We’ve seen other adaptations of electricity to existing airframes, such as a super lightweight Lazair ultralight (that lovely, gossamer flivver from the 1980s) that optimizes efficiency another way by having very little load to lift and keep airborne.

But for the basement tinkerers among us who like a little cayenne pepper mixed in with their healthy veggie stew here’s a refreshing wrinkle: an inveterate homebuilt aircraft junkie, Robert Baslee, was challenged by National Geographic to build and fly an electric powered aircraft in just 48 hours!

The whole reality tv-style circus was filmed by a NatGeo camera crew for broadcast. Talk about the potential for Nixonian flop sweat! I won’t spoil the surprise for you: Here’s the story on how he fared.

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Chip Erwin of Czech Aircraft Works fame is now operating in China as Triton. We’ll have more on his new enterprise in a future SPLOG post.

Recognize these? Triton is building the Mermaid amphibian and the SC3D follow-on to the SportCruiser Chip Erwin’s team originally created.

Another familiar look is the Van’s RV-12. Van’s aircraft operate in many countries.

SeaRey, recently SLSA approved in the USA, has been working on entering China for several years.

“Nine Eagles” … is a “multifunctional motor glider” by Shanghai Nine Eagles Electronic Technology Co Ltd. The company is widely known for radio-controlled models and has recently become an agent for aircraft such as the Ibis Magic and Rotorway A600 Talon. This seems to be its first indigenous product, but it is saying nothing more. Update from Paul Jackson of Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft.

This handsome cantilever high wing is the Rui Xiang fuel cell research aircraft designed by Shenyang Aerospace University on behalf of Research Institute of Liaoning General Aviation Policy and Technical Advisory Services. It has one 30 kW (40 hp) Sineton A37k154 electric motor with 7.5 kWh lithium fuel cell. Gross weight is 1,056 pounds; span 47 feet; max level speed 82 knots. It is uncertain if RX1E has flown and no known plans for marketing have been announced. It seems to share tail unit with LN-60F UAV from same source. genous product, but it is saying nothing more. Update from Paul Jackson of Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft.

The Sunward Aurora was created by Hunan Sunward Science and Technology; it is essentially an Italian Fly Synthesis Texan. The prototype shown in 2008 is now in production, with at least four built and registered. Built with full collaboration of Fly Synthesis, who flew one in Italy and then shipped it to China for trials (still with its Italian registration in the cockpit). Update from Paul Jackson of Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft.

The VoyageTech Black Headed Gull was first shown in 2012 by Nanchang Aviation University powered by the Rotax 912S. Gross weight is 1,210 pounds; span 27 feet; max level speed 125 knots. It was first flown on or before June 8th, 2011 and is offered for sale at Chinese Yuan 700,000 (about $113,000). Update from Paul Jackson of Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft.

Back to one we know, this is Brazil’s SeaMax amphibian.

The Spanish Colyaer Freedom amphibian has been seen in American and the company may appear at Sun ‘n Fun 2013.

Canada’s Mosquito ultralight helicopter.

The yellow one reads “HappyGyro” but these appear to be the Auto Gyro Calidus and MTO Sport.

Photographer and aviation leader Jan Fridrich (L) poses with the Czech Ambassador to China Mr. Libor Sečka in the Czech LAA booth.

Last month the southern China city of Zhuhai hosted a large collection of aircraft at Airshow China. We’ve been hearing about this once-closed country in matters of aviation so often, I thought it would be something different to show a collection of photos taken by my LAMA Europe colleague, Jan Fridrich. He works for the Czech Light Aircraft Association and you know his name as the man who does the hard work to gather figures for our regular LSA market surveys.

Another associate of mine, Will Escutia, one of the new owners of Quicksilver Aeronautics, also traveled to China recently. Visiting dealer prospects in the north of the large country Will reported that he sees four main forces driving the opening of aviation in China: (1) airspace below 3,000 meters is opening to civilian aircraft; (2) high interest in flying follows that airspace opening; (3) government is concerned about their economy and aviation is seen as helpful; (4) entrepreneurs are jockeying to take early advantage of the burgeoning market.

Will observed the limitations to growth as bureaucracy and regulations that stifle faster development; the need for a Type Certificate with costs that are still too high; a need for a commercial pilots license; laws that hold a pilot responsible for any death, a deterrent to wealthy Chinese; and flying between cities remains prohibited so pilots can fly only about 60 kilometers around airports and you need to land where you took off.

As he is not fluent in Chinese, Jan was not able to determine the brands of all aircraft but it’s still fun to see what showed at Zhuhai. Some you’ll recognize and captions will name aircraft that could be identified. Thanks to Jan Fridrich for all these photos!

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